1. The Week began with an Interview at the US Consulate, that was a breeze.
The drive back to work was exhilarating. Taxi driver suggested we take the sea-link. He had been on it 4 times already, over the last 4 days, since it had opened to the public and was toll-free. His slowest drive across had taken him an hour (due to traffic/ rains) while his quickest drive had been 15 minute long. "Madumm, please see the time" he said as we approached the Sea-link. Madumm's watch read 10:00 am. Taxi driver pushed the accelerator and at about 35-40 kmph (in a 50 kmph speed limit) we drove across. I was just beginning to take in the sea, the mist, the high tidal waves while being super sulky at the fact that one could'nt run/ walk across this amazing bridge. Two lanes run on either side, bringing cars and other vehicles across, but nothing for the walkers/ runners and pedestrians among us.
This could have been Mumbai's newest running track, a bridge that could be experienced, all along it's linearity. Instead, its a momentary transition, that slips by as you blink. For, as I was shaken from my chain-of-thought by the taxi-drivers excited queries "Madumm, Kya time hua?", we had approached the end of the link. My cell phone displayed the time, 10:05 am. In 5 minutes flat for Rs. 50/- we had bridged the gap, between Worli and Bandra. A never before experience, that I feel could have been stretched longer, with pedestrian access. Oh what I could give to run across this stretch, on top of the Arabian Sea! For now, we'll have to settle for good experiences with time-limits!
P.S: News Flash - Turns out the Mumbai Marathon 2010 may actually run through the bridge :) :) :) Now if only I was running it!
2. The Week also began with long, late conference calls, that start with American office hours and end at Indian Dinner hours. Balancing the evening workout with the conference calls, is going to take some new time-management skills.
3. Back and forth, on how I would like to be paid. I like the sound of that, especially when it comes after one whole long month! In India, as everyone knows, you get paid once a month. I was'nt sure this was going to take some getting used to, just as working Saturdays did. Turns out, that time of the month, has yet to arrive.
4. A random trip to the Batching Plant, where the concrete is being mixed for batching to the site. The trip was to collect the 'freebies'; raincoat, umbrella, reflective jacket, construction helmet and site-specific shoes. Turns out, it involved more paperwork and more volleying from one official to another. Also, since none of the systems at the site are computerised, we had to wait while officials started out from drawing lines in their rosters, to jotting down our names (that we had to spell out loud, inspite of having written on our forms). Finally the Monsoon Department handed us our raincoats/ umbrellas and the Site Safety Department handed us our jackets and helmets. In between, at some point, a senior official dropped by to yell at us, because we asked to see both raincoats and umbrellas so we could choose which one we liked better (you see you could take only out of the two). My American counterparts started acting all 'impatiently American' (something I ll elaborate on later), while I sat there, not being able to decide if the meticulous process should be applauded or if the delay it caused should be ridiculed. The dichotomy between applause or ridicule, is only one of many such, that I now face in my day-to-day life in Mumbai.
5. Brainstormed on Wednesday evening, with a friend, going back and forth on his new gallery's name and design. I am enjoying this new role of freelance design consultant on what we think and know, will be Mumbai's newest and most dynamic art space. Since details are to be kept under wraps, there's not much I can reveal yet, about the project, but the upcoming weeks promise to be very exciting in this respect, for sure.
The drive back to work was exhilarating. Taxi driver suggested we take the sea-link. He had been on it 4 times already, over the last 4 days, since it had opened to the public and was toll-free. His slowest drive across had taken him an hour (due to traffic/ rains) while his quickest drive had been 15 minute long. "Madumm, please see the time" he said as we approached the Sea-link. Madumm's watch read 10:00 am. Taxi driver pushed the accelerator and at about 35-40 kmph (in a 50 kmph speed limit) we drove across. I was just beginning to take in the sea, the mist, the high tidal waves while being super sulky at the fact that one could'nt run/ walk across this amazing bridge. Two lanes run on either side, bringing cars and other vehicles across, but nothing for the walkers/ runners and pedestrians among us.
This could have been Mumbai's newest running track, a bridge that could be experienced, all along it's linearity. Instead, its a momentary transition, that slips by as you blink. For, as I was shaken from my chain-of-thought by the taxi-drivers excited queries "Madumm, Kya time hua?", we had approached the end of the link. My cell phone displayed the time, 10:05 am. In 5 minutes flat for Rs. 50/- we had bridged the gap, between Worli and Bandra. A never before experience, that I feel could have been stretched longer, with pedestrian access. Oh what I could give to run across this stretch, on top of the Arabian Sea! For now, we'll have to settle for good experiences with time-limits!
P.S: News Flash - Turns out the Mumbai Marathon 2010 may actually run through the bridge :) :) :) Now if only I was running it!
2. The Week also began with long, late conference calls, that start with American office hours and end at Indian Dinner hours. Balancing the evening workout with the conference calls, is going to take some new time-management skills.
3. Back and forth, on how I would like to be paid. I like the sound of that, especially when it comes after one whole long month! In India, as everyone knows, you get paid once a month. I was'nt sure this was going to take some getting used to, just as working Saturdays did. Turns out, that time of the month, has yet to arrive.
4. A random trip to the Batching Plant, where the concrete is being mixed for batching to the site. The trip was to collect the 'freebies'; raincoat, umbrella, reflective jacket, construction helmet and site-specific shoes. Turns out, it involved more paperwork and more volleying from one official to another. Also, since none of the systems at the site are computerised, we had to wait while officials started out from drawing lines in their rosters, to jotting down our names (that we had to spell out loud, inspite of having written on our forms). Finally the Monsoon Department handed us our raincoats/ umbrellas and the Site Safety Department handed us our jackets and helmets. In between, at some point, a senior official dropped by to yell at us, because we asked to see both raincoats and umbrellas so we could choose which one we liked better (you see you could take only out of the two). My American counterparts started acting all 'impatiently American' (something I ll elaborate on later), while I sat there, not being able to decide if the meticulous process should be applauded or if the delay it caused should be ridiculed. The dichotomy between applause or ridicule, is only one of many such, that I now face in my day-to-day life in Mumbai.
5. Brainstormed on Wednesday evening, with a friend, going back and forth on his new gallery's name and design. I am enjoying this new role of freelance design consultant on what we think and know, will be Mumbai's newest and most dynamic art space. Since details are to be kept under wraps, there's not much I can reveal yet, about the project, but the upcoming weeks promise to be very exciting in this respect, for sure.
6. The rare long lunch was taken on Friday with the Americans and Australians, at the Hotel Leela's Coffee Shop, much to my dismay. I wanted to take them all for a pani-puri lunch, but we ended up at the Leela instead. A 600 rupee tomato soup later (that was no match for hubby's grandmom's tomato soup), I was convinced, I am done with the fancy-shancy 5 stars. Not many of them can match up to basic western places in NYC anyway. So why waste time? When in Mumbai, eat Mumbai-ian! Street food it is for me!
7. For a change the latter part of the week, was more gym-oriented. Sunday was to be spent on a day-trip, so the long run of the week had to be taken care of on Saturday evening after work. Surprisingly, the long run was'nt all that slow, but it did ensure that I did nothing super-exciting on Saturday night, but go home and slouch in front of the T.V.
8. Sunday turned out to be a blast. The entire day-trip went as planned, comfortable, well paced out and without a rush-itinerary. Kate, Miki, Kunal, Sheena and Bala, came by with Zaheer the driver, to pick me up at 9 am. The journey turned out to be one with lots of shine and rain. One road-side stop was made, that entailed walking alongside a narrow highway, over dead snakes to pose for pictures. From Kunal's 'dosa khakra' that was a superb idea to 'Horn Ok Please' discussions, we talked about everything under the sun on our way to Nasik.
The Sula winery is easily comparable to any of the Californian wineries I ve been to. Wine tours and tastings cost Rs 150/- per person, where they walk and talk you through the entire wine making process, the history of the company and end it with a six - wine tasting process. All the wines we tasted, were distinctly different from each other, but Dindori has always been my favourite Sula.
Lunch was at the Little Italy next door, a minimally-designed, yet sprawled out restaurant, that had its own sweet afternoon pace. True to it's Indian countryside context, the winery and the restaurant made up for most of our afternoon. After a heavy Italian lunch, we headed back to the winery for dessert wine and afternoon lazing. Some of us bought wine there and at 5 pm it was time to head back. The journey home was more laid back, slow music, much snoozing and a mini - chai/ coffee/ kulfi break later we were back home by 8:30 pm. Could'nt have spent 12 hours better!Week 6 (more like weekend 6) in pictures is here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/
In another one of those work-days-cut-short by rain, I am home on Tuesday afternoon at 4 pm.
So you take care and be good, while I go find a "butte-waalah" for a masala butta, nimboo maarke! :)
Love,
Shweyta
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